Night vision devices are widely used to provide military and other personnel with the ability to view objects or take pictures at night or during other low light conditions. Most night vision devices utilize an image intensifier that receives low intensity visible or non-visible light and converts the low intensity light into a visible image. In most situations, the night sky provides sufficient quantities of light for the night vision devices to operate effectively. However, there are some situations where there are insufficient quantities of ambient light available to effectively operate a night vision device. To overcome this problem, the prior art has provided illuminator devices for night vision devices which illuminate the objects to be viewed. Such illuminators devices are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 4,707,595 issued Nov. 17, 1987 to Meyers entitled INVISIBLE LIGHT BEAM PROJECTOR AND NIGHT VISION SYSTEM.
The prior an has provided illuminators that have been incorporated into the housing of the night vision device. A well known example of such an arrangement is the AN/PVS-7B night vision goggle military device. These integral illuminators have many inherent disadvantages. This arrangement causes the night vision device to be more bulky and more difficult to handle. It makes the night vision device more expensive to manufacture and to purchase. The illuminator draws power from the battery of the night vision device thereby causing the battery life to be reduced. Finally, these integral illuminators are wide beam illuminators for close object viewing and therefore suffer from the disadvantages of not being focusable, not being adjustable, and not being removable.
The prior art discloses brackets or other similar mounting devices for attaching illuminators to night vision devices. An example of such a mounting device is described in U.S. patent application No. 08/215,512 entitled ILLUMINATOR BRACKET FOR A NIGHT VISION DEVICE, assigned to ITT Corporation, the assignee herein. With this type of bracket, the optical axis of the illuminator remains fixed relative to the line of sight of the night vision device. It would be an advantage if the user were able to adjust the direction of the projected beam from an illuminator relative to the line of sight of the night vision device.
Also well known in the prior art are laser illuminators of the type that are typically used in conjunction with dries or handguns. There are several disadvantages to using such prior art laser illuminators in conjunction with a night vision device. These prior art laser illuminators tend to be difficult to mount and difficult to aim. In many cases, tools are required to change the direction of the beam of laser light relative to the direction of the gun barrel or line of sight of an optical device. Finally, with such prior art laser illuminators, it is difficult to make fine adjustments in the direction of the projected beam of light, and fine adjustments are important when aiming at an object in the distance.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention illuminator device to allow a user to make fine adjustments in the angle of a beam of light projected by an illuminator relative to the line of sight of a night vision device.
It is a further objective to provide an illuminator device that is easy to use with one hand and does not require tools to adjust the direction of the beam of light.
It is a further objective to provide an illuminator device that is focusable, and does not draw on the battery power of the night vision device.
It is a further objective to provide an illuminator device that can be attached to the tripod mount of a night vision device.